An Underground Realm

 

The caves in the Naracoorte district are an unavoidable part of the local terrestial landscape. The surface of the Naracoorte Range, or more specifically, the Naracoorte East or Caves Range, contains numerous small entrances to a large and extensive honeycomb of limestone cavern systems below. 

The attached map represents the cave entrances we are aware of today. Many of these access points have been dug out in modern times, but more obvious examples of cave falls and exposed chambers also abound. Within the traditional Caves Reserve of European times, the open experiences of the Blanche (aka 'Big'), Tomato/Sticks, Cathedral, and Bat Caves have always been known.

Susan White & John Webb, 2015, 'The influence of tectonics on flank margin cave formation on a passive continental margin: Naracoorte, Southeastern Australia', Geomorphology, vol 229, pp  58-72

It is reasonable to assume that before their 'discovery' by British settlers in 1845, Indigenous people belonging to the area were familiar with "the largest and most accessible of these caves". While there has been a lot of scientific effort put into speleological exploration and excavation of fossil bones in recent decades, this 'new' knowledge concerns millennia predating Aboriginal use. "There is anecdotal evidence that people may have used the caves in some way; however, no archaeological evidence has been formally recorded, leaving an unfortunate gap in the Caves' history". According to Bourne, the only information is "restricted to a small number of oral Dreamtime stories", not available to the public.

Liz Reed & Steve Bourne, 2013, 'Old Cave, New Stories: The Interpretive Evolution of Blanche Cave, Naracoorte, South Australia', Journal of the Australasian Cave and Karst Management Association, vol 90, p13.

THE UNDERWORLD -- PART OF A SPHERE

It is important to note that Dreamtime stories, the oral narratives that explained everyday, observable events and natural features, are not universal to all language groups. They are particular to regional populations. "Nevertheless, from ethnographies across Australia, it is clear that Aborigines considered that there were other realms within the perceived cultural landscape in addition to their own terrestial regions, to which they could travel in spirit form...the Skyworld and the Underworld."

Philip A Clarke, 1997, 'The Aboriginal Cosmic Landscape of Southern South Australia', Records of the South Australian Museum, vol 29, no 2, p127

It is possible, therefore, to imagine the Indigenous world, or cosmos, as a round ball like our planet Earth. It has three distinct elements within its circumference, all sharing the same unified space. Through the middle, forming a lateral plane across its widest diameter, is the earth's surface. Above this surface, forming a dome over the land, are the heavens, the night and daytime sky, as seen from below. And underneath another, hidden dome or underground world of rock, permeated by passageways (tunnels) and chambers (dwelling-places).

The concept of separate but inter-related domains, together making up one world or cosmic space, can be illustrated by reference to (for example) the traditions of the Ramindjeri people of Encounter Bay in South Australia. In 1846 a German missionary called Meyer recorded the following about their views of the rising and setting of the Sun and the Moon.

     "The Sun they consider to be female, who, when she sets, passes the dwelling-places of the dead [the Underworld, Land of the West]. As she approaches, the men assemble, and divide into two bodies, leaving a road for her to pass between them; they invite her to stay with them, which she can only do for a short time, as she must be ready for her journey the next day. For favours granted to some one among them she receives a present of a red kangaroo skin; and, therefore, in the morning, when she rises, appears in a red dress."

     "The Moon is a woman, and not particularly chaste. She stays a long time with the men, and from the effects of her intercourse with them, she becomes very thin, and wastes away to a mere skeleton. When in this state, Nurrunduri [Ancestral Being] orders her to be driven away. She flies, and is secreted for some time, but is employed all the time in seeking roots which are so nourishing that in a short time she appears again, and fills out and becomes fat rapidly."

PA Clarke, pp 133, 132

The visible phenomena are that the Sun and the Moon rise in the East and set in the West, and this pattern is regularly repeated. The spiritual interpretation is that for the periods that these celestial bodies are away from the sight of people they are passing through the "dwelling-places of the dead" -- in the Underworld.

Both the Sun and the Moon follow a circular path of daily, and monthly, renewal in the Aboriginal cosmos. They traverse the Sky from East to West before dipping below the horizon, then return from the West to the East through the Underground to their original starting point. These Dreamtime traditions demonstrate a reassuringly endless journey of depletion and recovery, involving all three realms of existence, and centralised around the people living on the land.

In this cultural context, caves have a natural and necessary purpose. Their function, at the very least, is to provide a conduit for the solar and lunar systems. However this is only part of the story. The subterranean world was not always benign.

Some examples from the Warrnambool Coast people in South Western Victoria, the Biig wurrung and the Girrae wurrung, illustrate a wary attitude to caves in local Aboriginal lore.

     "A cave featured in the story of the movement of the spirits of deceased people to Deen Maar [Lady Julia Percy Island], an island off the south west coast of Victoria. On the Victorian coast opposite this island [The Craigs], a cave named Tarn Wirring, or 'road of the spirits', formed a passage between the mainland and the island. Grass found at the mouth of the cave was considered proof that a good spirit, called Puit puit chepetch, had removed the body of a recently buried person through the cave to the island and conveyed the spirit to the clouds."

     "A cave [Lake Gillear, or Bat Cave] was visited by Superintendent CJ LaTrobe in 1845 and 1846, which he noted 'the Natives' referred to as 'Lubras Cave'. LaTrobe explained that local Indigenous people knew the caverns well and 'had a superstitious dread of them, stating that the caverns below were inhabited by headless lubras [sic]...For ages past the natives were in the habit, whenever they approached this airhole, to throw a piece of wood into it to propitiate the demon supposed to reside within its profound and mysterious depths'."

     "Local squatter JM Allen reported to a colonial government inquiry in 1858 that 'the Aboriginal people in his district believed spirits called "Tambora" inhabited caves'. This was the Girae wurrung word tampoorr, their general word for devil, 'male devil', 'bad male spirit'."

Ian D Clark, 2007, 'The abode of malevolent spirits and creatures --Caves in Victorian Aboriginal social organisation', Helictite, vol 40, no 1, pp 6-8

Once again, it needs to be remembered that these examples are geographically distinct. These stories are not general principles. They do not mean that the same interpretations prevailed at the Naracoorte Caves, where the resident Meintangk and Marditjali peoples might have had quite different stories of significance.

What they do imply, however, is a broadly held association between the Underworld and spiritual presence -- the acknowledgment of a supernatural domain -- perhaps requiring special initiation and 'secret' knowledge before approaching it.

The hidden Underworld, like the  observable Skyworld and its Dreamtime astronomy, was an integral part of Aboriginal life on the terrestial plane. But not to everyone were the intricacies of cosmological structure and meaning shared.

We can only assume that during the shock of European settlement and Indigenous dispossession, much of the valuable knowledge (secret, sacred) was lost. Certainly, with the drastic reduction in the number of surviving tribal elders, those who were entitled to know (and were responsible for teaching those entitled to learn), the potential for passing on situation-specific information was limited.

BULEDJI BRAMBIMBULA -- THE BRAM BROTHERS

One possible link between the Naracoorte Caves and Indigenous cultural knowledge concerns the Bram brothers, two Ancestral Heroes important to Aborigines throughout north western Victoria.

From his location near the headwaters of the Wimmera River, AN Howitt was told in 1904 that the buledji Brambimbula "lived in a cavern far to the west". More precisely, an Anglican missionary at Lake Condah called Matthews was told by a Wemba Wemba (Lake Boga) man in 1907 that "the Brambanngul were two brothers, chief men, who lived in a cave near Naracoorte".

ID Clark, p6

The significance of the brothers is related to their role as Ancestral Beings in regional Creation stories, primarily for the Wergai (Mallee) and Jardwadjali (Grampians) people, and by extension, to the western Marditjali group who occupied the Naracoorte Plateau (abutting the Caves Range):

     "In a time long ago, the Great Ancestor Spirit Bunjil, began to create the world we see around us...Bunjil had a special place near Gariwerd [the Grampians]. From there he could look out over the ranges. Bunjil appointed two brothers, the Bram-bram-bult brothers, sons of Druk the Frog, to finish the task he had set himself. Their job was to bring order to the world; to name the animals and creatures, to make languages and give the laws. At the end of his time on earth, Bunjil rose into the sky and became a star.

      Meanwhile the Bram-bram-bult brothers had a big job, sorting things out here on earth. There was a huge, ferocious emu called Tchingal who lived on the flesh of people and animals. His home was in the mallee scrub. He was hatching an enormous egg. One day while Tchingal was away from the nest, Waa the Crow flew past. Feeling hungry, Waa decided to have a peck at the egg. He was pecking away quite happily when Tchingal returned. The monster emu was furious. Waa fled across country towards Gariwerd [the Grampians], with Tchingal right behind him."

<budjabudjacoop.org.au/about/gariwerdgrampians>

Tchingal the maddened emu caused a swath of destruction through Bunjil's "beautiful sandstone ranges", striking and splitting the rocks into Rose Gap and Victoria Gap in his efforts to catch the cheeky crow:

     "Meanwhile, Waa the Crow had flown north to where the Bram-bram-bult brothers were staying. He told them of his narrow escape and of Tchingal's ferociousness. Already angry at the emu for his bad deeds, the two brothers decide to punish him.

      They came down to the mountains and saw what they thought was a bright star shining -- it was Tchingal's eye. Approaching the bird from different directions, the brothers crept up and threw their spears. One struck the emu in the chest, one in the rump, and one in the neck. Tchingal raged and stormed at the brothers, but he was fatally wounded. He ran off towards the northern plains, losing blood all the time. Soon he died, and the trail of blood he left behind him turned into the Wimmera River."

<budjabudjacoop.org.au>

The Bram brothers took their responsibility to "bring order" and "give the laws" very seriously. This applied to people as much as the rest of Bunjil's creation. In an aside to the main story, Tchingal sees a man during his rampage in the Grampians:

     "Tchingal was angry and he was also very hungry. Just at this moment he spied a man, Bunya, out hunting in the distance. He decided to make a meal of him. When Bunya, who was not very brave, realised the emu was after him, he took off as fast he could. Instead of using his spears to protect himself, as a warrior should, he threw them to the ground and scrambled up a large tree. Tchingal, not being able to climb, decided to wait. He knew that Bunya would have to come down some time...

      The Bram-bram-bult now approached the tree where Bunya had hidden. They told him to come down, but Bunya was too scared and called back that he would stay there until they made sure Tchingal was dead. The elder brother was angry at such cowardice. He waved his spear and caused Bunya to become a possum, telling him to always stay in the treetops and to hunt for his food only at night."

<budjabudjacoop>

The brothers operated as 'moral policemen'. Bunya did not use his spears against the giant emu "as a warrior should". The elder Bram condemned him to 'timid possum-hood'. This direct intervention into human affairs suggests that if the Bram brothers had resided "in a cave near Naracoorte", the local Aborigines might well have treated the site with awe.

THE OVERWORLD -- PROOF IN ABORIGINAL ASTRONOMY

Confirmation of Dreamtime stories was often found in the constellations of the night sky. Because these are highly visible, more information concerning their names and character has survived than is the case with features of the Underworld. Comparison of their identities and stories according to different language groups is a valid way to verify the importance of 'place' in Indigenous traditions. 

In establishing what story-line might have related to the Naracoorte Caves area, there are the remnants of two versions to be taken into account. One is a Jardwadjali tradition, as above, and may have been relevant for the Marditjali group on the eastern side of the Range. The other is a Meintangk tradition, as below, and more likely to have resonance for those whose territory was on the western side of the Range.

     "Now, if you look at the Southern Cross, you can see the [Gariwerd] story told in the stars. At the head of the Cross is Bunya, the timid possum. Three of the stars are the spears hurled by the Bram-bram-bult. The large western star is the spear that struck Tchingal in the chest, the small star next to it is the spear that passed through his neck, and the star at the bottom of the Cross is the spear that struck him in the rump. Tchingal himself is the dark shape that lies next to the Southern Cross. The eastern star of the Cross is Druk, the mother of the Bram-bram-bult, and the two brothers are the Pointers of the Cross."

<budjabudjacoop>

A variation of the emu story has South Australian roots. Anthropologist Norman Tindale was told by a Lower Murray man in the 1930s that the Magellan Clouds were two brolgas [prolggii] who fled there after fighting with the emu spirit [pindjali].

     "A similar account was provided to Tindale by a Meintangk informant who claimed that the emu concerned was to be seen in the sky just under the Southern Cross. The fight in the myth was apparently due to the jealousy of the emu over the brolgas' children. This mythology appears to be related to Gundidjmara beliefs, which held that the larger cloud was the 'male native companion' or 'gigantic crane', the smaller cloud being the female equivalent...As with their terrestial counterparts, these celestial spirit beings migrated according to the season. In the winter sky, the brolgas are seen lying to the south-east and then south of the Milky Way. In summer they shift towards the western side...A Meintangk informant told Tindale that 'the black patch (Coal Sack) in the Southern Cross is the emu...The Southern Cross stars are men."

PA Clarke, pp135, 137

The alternative (western language group) story is looking at the same section of the sky as the original (eastern language group). The Magellanic Clouds are two dwarf galaxies approaching the Milky Way, a couple of 'smudges' observable by the naked eye in the lower southern lattitudes (but only from places without urban night light pollution). The ABC Science 'starhunt' site provides the following directions for amateur astronomers: To locate the prolggi in the night sky, follow the long line of the Southern Cross from the brightest star at the foot for about six lengths of the cross. The Small Magellanic Cloud is a patch of light nearby. From the smaller cloud, about one handspan towards the crux, there is a bigger bar-shaped patch of light, which is the Larger Magellanic Cloud.

In both stories, the body or ashes of the aggressive emu are represented by the dark zone in the Southern Cross, called the Coal Sack. But here the similarities cease. The Bram brothers are not present at all in the Meintangk variant.

It may be that Tindale's "Meintangk informant" only gave an edited version of a larger legend, either through lack of knowledge or a desire to preserve secrecy. On balance, however, it seems that the Bram brothers were unfamiliar to her. In other words, the Naracoorte Caves were probably interpretable in two ways, according to which language group or territorial custodians were referring to them.

Same place. Different story.